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Not only did the Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada pass that birthday on March 28 this year, while looking a decade younger, but it’s also the 60th anniversary of the organization she heads and although diamonds are the usual gift on that occasion, she’s overseeing a domain that’s solid gold.

Last year was one of the most successful in the National’s history, with ballets like Chroma putting them right at the cutting artistic edge, while Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was a record-breaking audience-pleaser.

Kain sits in her sunlit office at the Walter Carsen Centre on Queens Quay, smiles and almost seems to relax for a minute, a rare thing these days.

“To realize that you’re the custodian of the tradition of a great cultural institution for a brief period of time may seem a weighty thing, but it’s also joyous as well.

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“It’s a time to reflect and appreciate all the contributions that others have made to my career and my life. My vision is nothing that hasn’t been gleaned or understood from watching and working with so many people I admire before me.”

And now, as the company is preparing for the Nov. 16 opening of Romeo and Juliet, choreographed by the world-renowned Alexei Ratmansky, it must occur to her that this is just the kind of big classical ballet that first grabbed her attention 52 years ago.

“I think it was for my 8th birthday that my parents took me down to Hamilton to see the National Ballet. We lived in Ancaster at the time and we didn’t even have a TV, but my mother always wanted her children to be exposed to the better things in life.

“Celia Franca was dancing Giselle that night. My first encounter with the woman, the company and the art form that would all change my life.”

Kain obviously responded so enthusiastically to the experience that her mother enrolled her in dance lessons, but they didn’t begin all that propitiously.

“My first teacher had Patti Page singing ‘The Tennessee Waltz’ on a 45 and that’s all she played for an hour while I leapt over a kitty litter box.”

Kain’s mother wisely withdrew her from that environment, but her next teacher, after watching the young girl for a few weeks, suggested her parents enrol her in the National Ballet School.

She becomes emotional as she recalls the moment.

“In my life, there have always been people who guided my path, towards the school, towards this company. I didn’t know about any of it. I didn’t have a plan. It’s good fortune and generosity from other people that have given me all I have today.

“At this point in my life, I’m more aware of it than ever.”

It all moved very quickly in those early years, with Kain joining the National Ballet School at 11, entering the company at 18 and being made a principal dancer when she was 20.

“I was a very shy kid,” she recalls. “I wanted to dance, but for myself, not in front of other people. I wasn’t a performer. It was something that I had to force myself into for my whole life.

“I think I worked harder than everyone else because I never really believed in myself. It was other people who did. When you join a company at 18 and you’re thrust into a very demanding, stressful career, you’re not really prepared for the level of acclaim and pressure and you rely on other people’s confidence in you.”

People like Rudolf Nureyev who partnered Kain when the duo conquered London in 1975. She recalls their partnership as “a lot of intuition and silent communication. You feel things by the touch of a hand. It’s a very complex thing. When it works well, it’s magical. It creates a confidence level that lets you take risks without worrying about anything else.”

But despite heady experiences like that, or maybe because of them, by her late 20s, the duality between what Kain felt inside and what she was forced to produce on the stage reached a breaking point.

“I had an incredible loss of confidence in my late 20s and stopped dancing for a year. It was brought on by my inability to cope with what I thought were other people’s very high expectations of me.

“I basically ran away from my career. I wasn’t dealing well with it at all. I had to decide if this was the career I wanted and — if I did — I had to figure out a way to survive.”

And she did. But the very private Kain will only allow that she learned how to do it through “therapy and understanding myself better.”

But the remaining 20 years of her career flash by on fast forward when I ask her when she finally really enjoyed performing.

“When I decided to retire,” she says with a liberating laugh. “That incredible stage fright I’d had all of my life, that sense I didn’t deserve all the attention and the accolades, that’s when it finally started to feel better.”

That decision to leave, she admits, happened gradually.

“I had my own standards after a while for ballets like Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty and I knew I couldn’t meet those standards anymore, so I let those roles go. The struggle to do them for the last time was really difficult. The writing is on the wall, but you love it so much, it’s hard to let it go.

The final impetus Kain needed came when impresario Garth Drabinsky offered her a farewell tour across the country when she was ready to go.

“I realized this was a wonderful opportunity and so I pinned it down.”

Kain hung up her toe shoes after that 1997 tour, but a year later she was Artist in Residence at the National, then an Artistic Associate and — after a brief stint as the head of the Canada Council — she returned as the Artistic Director in 2005.

“You never know how it feels to run the company until you’re doing it yourself. It’s like when I was a dancer, I’d watch Sleeping Beauty and think ‘That’s not so hard,’ but then I’d finally do it myself and it was ‘Oh, my God!’

“I’ve been preparing for this job a very long time, but I’m still learning every day, because the ground keeps changing. It’s never just ‘make a plan, follow through and everything will be fine.’ Never.”

Even at a moment like this when it all seems to be flawless, Kain shakes her head and says “I never take anything for granted. Every time I recognize that it has gone well, I’m aware that tomorrow night might bring a different story.

“But I am constantly grateful for how it’s all unfolding and I hope that continues.”

One final question. Is there anything about her life or career that she regrets? The answer comes quickly.

“Yes. I regret that I didn’t enjoy it all more. I didn’t savour it until the end because I was so hard on myself. Life goes by so quickly. A dancer’s career goes by so quickly. You’ve got to enjoy those moments when you know you’ve done your best.”

KAREN KAIN’S FIVE FAVE INSPIRATIONS

Celia Franca

Celia’s combination of fierce devotion to The National Ballet of Canada and deep humanity for those who worked there was an inspiration to me.

Rudolf Nureyev

He was incredibly nurturing and supportive early in my career and I deeply valued his friendship. Rudolf taught me so much about dancing.

Erik Bruhn

He was a true artist and wonderful Artistic Director.

Sandra and Jim Pitblado

Their unfailing support of the arts make them not only genuine philanthropists but their dedication to the National Ballet and the personal support they have always given me also make them true friends and mentors.

Winifred Kain

My mother, who grew up on a farm in Manitoba, was determined that her children be exposed to the arts and have the opportunities that were not available to her.

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